This invention relates to an apparatus for interconnecting electrical circuit elements. More particularly, this invention relates to a new and improved electrical connector and method of using the same for establishing electrical contact between a pair of flexible circuits and another circuit device.
Conventional methods of interconnecting electrical or electronic circuit components consist of the use of separate connector structures and/or soldering terminals on the components to conductors which deliver current to or from the components. While generally suitable for its intended purposes, interconnecting electrical components via separate connector structures does suffer from certain drawbacks and deficiencies including high manufacturing and purchasing costs during installation and connection. Similarly, soldering terminals is undesirable as the substrate which supports an exposed terminal must be able to withstand relatively high temperatures with no adverse effects. Also, soldering connections can be time consuming and therefore be labor intensive and expensive. Another problem with soldered connections is the relative difficulty in disconnecting a soldered terminal during repairs and manufacturing.
In some applications it has been found desirable to replace the use of separate connecting structures and/or soldering as a technique for use in establishing connections to flexible and other circuits. In these applications, the requisite electrical contact may be established by mechanically pressing the terminal portions of the circuit against terminal pads on the connector, device or another circuit. Such prior art pressure connections are customarily made with the aid of a resilient pressure applicator, such as an elastomeric member, which is placed in compression to bias at least one of the components to be electrically interconnected toward the other component to hold the terminal portions thereof in electrical contact.
Such a solderless connection system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,468,074 assigned to the assignee hereof and incorporated herein by reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,468,074 discloses an apparatus wherein contact portions of a first array of conductive elements are urged against mating contacts of a second array of conductive elements by a pressure applicator comprising a resilient cellular plastic material thereby establishing and maintaining an electrical connection therebetween. The use of such a cellular resilient material permits a plurality of closely spaced exposed electrical conductors on or extending from a pair of substrates to be aligned and thereafter reliably pressed together, with the electrical connections being established by a requisite contact pressure applied to the substrates. The solderless connector of U.S. Pat. No. 4,468,074 may be employed to interconnect flexible circuits; to connect flexible circuits on rigid substrates; to establish connections between the leads extending from integrated circuit in a circuit pattern on a flexible or rigid circuit board; and in other applications.
Still other prior art solderless connectors are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,468,074; 4,647,125; 4,655,524; 4,691,972; 4,717,345; 4,744,764 and 4,768,971.
It will be appreciated that the above-noted prior art solderless connectors typically relate to the connection between a flexible circuit and another flexible or rigid circuit device. However, there are many applications requiring at least two flexible circuits to be connected to a third flexible or rigid circuit device. Unfortunately, none of the known prior art solderless connector assemblies are particularly well suited for such a connection scheme.